Jake raised his right hand and felt the mana move for the first time as a deliberate action rather than a background process.
Forty-five units left his pool and the ability activated with a sensation like cold water running from his palm outward, invisible and purposeful.
The lead soldier in the advancing squad stopped mid-stride.
The Chasm grasp had found the command crystal in his chest through the gap his Mana Sight had identified in the armor's mana-resistant plating, and the compression force was working on something internal and small rather than the soldier's body as a whole.
The crystal resisted for two seconds, its artificial construction having genuine structural integrity, and then it fractured under compression that had no physical component to deflect.
The soldier collapsed instantly, no transition between functional and fallen, the collective thinking that had been sustaining his movement cut off at its root.
